Lest We Forget

On this day in 1969, North Korean MiGs shot down a US Navy EC-121 flying a BEGGAR SHADOW recon mission over the Sea of Japan, killing 31 Americans. Tail Number PR-21 crashed 90 nautical miles from the Korean coast. The shoot-down was ostensibly a birthday gift to NK's "Great Leader" Kim Il-sung.

(The plane's sister, PR-22, pictured left with an F-4 escort.)








My USAF Propwash Gang brothers of the era flew in a similarly configured Lockheed "Warning Star." Here's to all Silent Warriors, especially those who paid the highest price for "freedom through vigilance."

Don't Make Me Come Over There!

Again!

As some of you know, I've been on and off the Korean Peninsula quite a few times and I run out of fingers counting the many provocative incidents that have occurred either on the border, in disputed waters, and even deep inside South Korea. Hot on the news that the Norks have a new uranium enrichment plant, they bombard a South Korean island, killing two ROK Marines (they must have been direct hits -- those guys are pretty tough). I suspect the Nork military is feeling its oats now that Kim Jong-il is on the wane; maybe they're showing Kim Jong-un (Kim Junior) what they can get away with without serious retaliation. Those sharply worded UN resolutions really burn, you see.

So, am I gonna have to find out how this Retired Reserve thing works? Oh, please, give me an excuse to get back in uniform. I even have a set of awesome Sennheiser headphones now. Sure, I'll have to shave, get a haircut, lose some weight, get my clearance resurrected... all worth it to hear the last utterances of the Pyongyang dialect before it's spoken only in Hell.

Remembrance

September 2nd was the anniversary of the loss of C-130 #60538 and it's crew of 17 airmen over Soviet Armenia. Yesterday, the Freedom Through Vigilance Association held its annual Remembrance Ceremony for all intelligence professionals lost in the line of duty. The ceremony took place in front of AFISRA Headquarters in San Antonio TX.

Photo by Red Oregon

Skivvy Nine! - Summer Reading

I had a buttload of books I wanted to read this summer and with the new reading glasses perched on my nose, I dug into the pile last night.

I had to read "Skivvy Nine!" first, seeing as how I'd actually met many of the characters! Chief "T. Wyman Beal" had so lightly fictionalized his tell-all journal that you can divine the cast of real names based on the initials of the names in the dramatis personae. So Chief "Timothy Wyman Beal" was really CMSgt T. Wayne Babb, the incoming Operations Superintendent of the 6903d Electronic Security Group (SKIVVY NINE) the spring I left my second tour there in 1987.

"Skivvy Nine" doesn't read like a novel, but a journal written by a Senior Non-commissioned Officer who wanted to keep track of things, a diary peppered with many colorful turns of phrase. Intelligence professionals of his background tend to be very literate people, so I can understand his frustration with the petty chicken-sh*t he got from his Command Section admin people. Without getting too deep into what Skivvy Nine is or does (we could tell you, but then we'd have to kill you), "Beal" recounts his eventful and oh-so stressful tour at the USAF's premier intelligence unit in the Pacific, now designated the 303d Intelligence Squadron, but always SKIVVY NINE.

Not a war story, though the unit plays war games throughout the year (and the story), "Skivvy Nine" gives the reader a front seat to the distasteful spectacle of political back-biting and random acts of incompetence that occur at the upper levels of an intelligence unit. If you're in the biz, this story is timeless; if you're in the military, you're sure to find parallels around you. Quail not, dear Reader, for despite the knuckleheads in the top offices, Skivvy Nine never fails to "Keep the Morning Calm" through the professionalism and dedication of its Operations troops, especially the USAF Korean prima donna linguists and those lesser ops folks and maintenance pukes professionals who orbited around worked side-by-side us. Yeah, the Chief writes about that, too.

Get a copy here.

Wish they all could be COMPASS CALL Girls

In Maxim Magazine!

From the CC Alumni

Thanks for Serving!

He'd never been out of the United States during his time in the USAF, but don't tell Lil Bro he hasn't served overseas!

Many of my bag-wearing friends visited this little garden spot, Shemya Island AK, now home of Eareckson Air Station.

Many thanks to all you veterans out there!

Woohoo!

My onlybestbuddythatIhaven'tbeenBestManfor'cuzhewasalreadymarriedwhenwemet is getting pre-deployment training at Fort H! Gonna bust some caps and drain some brews this weekend!

I gotta load some Uzi mags tomorrow!

His training schedule might preclude him from getting dragged up to Catalina for this month's ACTS match. Bummer.

Missed Both of These Yesterday

As you go about on your routines today, please remember our 17 Air Force brothers who departed on a "routine" misssion 48 years ago today aboard C-130 60528 and never returned. They live on in our memories!

In Brotherhood,
Larry Tart


And 14 other brothers in Afghanistan.







In Memoriam

The Air Force Hymn

Lord, guard and guide those who fly
Through the great spaces in the sky;
Be with them traversing the air
In darkening storms or sunshine fair,

You who support with tender might
The balanced birds in all their flight.
Lord of the tempered winds, be near,
That, having you, they know no fear.

Control their minds with instinct fit,
What time adventuring, they quit
The firm security of land;
Grant steadfast eye and skillful hand.

Aloft in solitudes of space
Uphold them with your saving grace
O God, protect those who fly
Through lonely ways beneath the sky.

An RAF Hymn

Lord of the Universe and Space
Creator of the human race,
Whose stars took place within Your plan
Before our time on earth began.
Be with us, Father, as we rise
To brave the challenge of the skies

Lord of the Heavens, by Whose might
Mankind has learned the skill of flight,
To span the world from land to land
Released from earth’s restraining hand,
Be with us, Father, as we rise
To brave the challenge of the skies

Through sunlit days and darkest night,
We dare to face the risks of flight.
In speeding craft we soar to fly
On hidden highways in the sky.
Be with us, Father, as we rise
To brave the challenge of the skies

We thank You, Father, for the days
Of golden dawns and sunsets’ rays
Accept our praise, O Lord we pray
And guide us on Your chosen way.
Be with us, Father, as we rise
To brave the challenge of the skies

The Hainan EP-3 Incident

On April 1, 2001 (China time), a US Navy EP-3E Aries II was performing surveillance operations in international airspace over the South China Sea when it was intercepted by two PRC J-8 fighter aircraft. One of the interceptor pilots (there is evidence that this guy had flown like a hot dog on previous intercepts) made close passes at the plane to rattle the crew. On his final pass (on Earth, ever) his vertical stabilizer (tail) struck the left outboard propeller...his plane broke up and fell into the sea. Parts of his jet sheared off the EP-3's nosecone, which did damage to the right outboard engine and much of the aircraft's instrumentation. The plane inverted and went out of control, saved only by the airmanship of the pilot, Lt. Shane Osborn.



Bringing the plane back under control, Lt. Osborn decided that ditching or bailing out at sea was certain to result in loss of life, so he steered toward Hainan to attempt an emergency landing. Osborn and his crew (22 sailors, one Marine, and one USAF member) became "guests" of the PRC for 11 days until a diplomatic agreement could be reached. The crew was well-treated and not interrogated, but were interviewed.

For the story of their retrieval, read here.

Most of these Silent Warrior stories were already part of service lore before I enlisted; this one I was able to watch unfold from the very best vantage point, an intelligence squadron. Many of us were at least two degrees of separation from members of the crew. As for me, my Number One E-6 (soon to be E-7) had been a student of mine at tech school; he had returned to be an instructor himself and had one of the crewmen in his class. We were all happy with the outcome, and extremely grateful it wasn't the North Koreans involved instead of the Chinese.

Baron 52

EC-47
Image courtesy of EC47.com

"Baron 52" was the callsign of an EC-47Q with a flight crew from the 361st Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron and a mission crew from the 6994th Security Squadron. Based at Ubon, Thailand, it was lost over Laos to enemy ground fire on February 4, 1973 -- eight days after the Peace Accords had been signed with North Vietnam. This mission continues to stir the POW/MIA controversy, since only the remains of the front-end crew had been verified at the crash site. Some speculate that the four surviving mission crew members may have been spirited away to North Vietnam or possibly the Soviet Union for interrogation and technical exploitation given their cryptologic backgrounds. For details:

1989 Oral History Interview Transcript

Robert Destatte disputes that any survivors existed or were captured.

Larry O'Daniel disputes Destatte's analysis. As does Steve Golding.

The families of the missing crewmen joined the Bamboo Pipeline.

Wasn't John Kerry one of the politicians in such a hurry to quash the MIA issue in order to normalize relations with Vietnam? I'm just saying.

USS Liberty

The USS Liberty (AGTR-5) was much larger than the USS Pueblo and represents a bloody smear cast upon the United States' relations with Israel. An intelligence collection ship in international waters, the Liberty was attacked by Israeli aircraft and warships while operating off the Sinai Peninsula on 8 June, 1967, during the Arab-Israeli Six Day War. The attacks killed 34 and wounded 171 men out of a crew of 297, "the worst loss of American naval personnel from hostile action since World War II."

Relevant web sites: USN History site, an article by Eric Margolis, another by John Bourne, one by James Ennes, Jr., a Court of Inquiry site, a Memorial site, and anothers by the Jewish Virtual Library by Mitchell Bard and Michael Oren.

Showing American testicluar fortitude, Liberty declined later Isreali offers of assistance after the "mistake" had been identified and limped to Malta for repairs.

The incident was hushed up by the Johnson Administration, and the commander of Liberty, Commander McGonagle, was quietly awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, and his ship awarded a Presidential Unit Citation for her heroic actions during the incident.

The Israeli government maintains that they had mistaken Liberty for an Egyptian horse-carrier, El Quseir, one-fourth of Liberty's size, a dubious claim, but the heroism of Liberty's Silent Warriors remains undisputed.

They Served in Silence

"This photo above, taken from the gunsight of a Soviet MIG fighter, is of C-130 60528. On board this aircraft were 17 members of the United States Air Force on a normal workday that ended with these men paying the ultimate price for a philosophy of 'Freedom Through Vigilance.' This is a real photograph and on board this aircraft were 17 real men, 17 Silent Warriors."

So reads the caption at the website. Aircraft 60538 was shot down near the Turkish border in 1958, just one of several reconnaisance platforms lost during the Cold War. Silent-Warriors.com is dedicated to the men (and women!) of the US armed forces' aerial reconnaissance crew members who put their lives on the line every day to ensure America is never surprised as was on December 7, 1941. The site is managed by the Propwash Gang, former and current members of the Air Force Security Service, Electronic Security Command, Air Force Intelligence Command, Air Intelligence Agency, (and now 8th Air Force IIRC) .

I was not a Silent Warrior is the same respect as these fine crewdogs; for most of my career, I was a "Chairborne Ranger" doing their job from a safer distance. When I was aircrew, our mission was to ensure that the enemy became silent when we wanted them to. We flew a C-130 much like the one pictured, so the story strikes close to my heart. Our Electric Herk (EC-130H COMPASS CALL) operates as part of carefully planned strike mission, complete with dedicated air cover, while the Silent Warriors operate Alone, Unarmed, and Unafraid. If you're ever in the Fort Meade MD area, visit the National Vigilance Park memorial to the souls who risked, and sometimes lost, their lives conducting "peacetime" reconnaissance.

This is the first of several posts I have planned to honor those warriors of all services who Served in Silence.

Who Are These Guys?

Guess who these folks are and win a homemade blog ad in my sidebar for a month!

cowboyblob--at--yahoo-dot--com

Update: This is apparently not as easy as I thought (due to the lousy resolution). No one's made use of the obvious yet. Maybe some of the folks at Castle Argghhh! can figure it out.

Hint: There are guys from two units in this picture. It was snapped in the early 80s. I will also accept the project name or the squadron now performing the mission.

Wrong guesses so far:
Det 2, 67th Information Operations Group
628th Air Mobility Support Squadron
553rd Air Force Band...John!
Squadron 23 Iraqi Air Force & USAF Instructors...good one!

Another Update: There has been one correct response (he nailed it after making the wrong assumption several others have made) but he requested to disqualify himself. Even so, I'll make him a blog ad if he ever decides to publish a blog.

Yet Another Update: Enough people have guessed one group that I'll post it: The flight crew of this aircraft are from the 193d Special Operations Wing, PA Air National Guard, based at Harrisburg IAP. What about the guys in the back?

We Have a Winner! Close enough for government work, anyway.

Jeremy Bol of American Warmonger guessed 193d SOW PANG and 169th Intelligence Squadron UTANG of Senior Scout. The Stormin' Mormons of the 169th have the mission today, and I said I'd accept that. The "self-loading baggage" in the back were actually members of the 6994th Electronic Security Squadron based at Fort Meade MD.

The aircraft is an EC-130E (COMFY LEVI), not a (RIVET RIDER) "Commando Solo" as many have guessed. The RR is a flying radio and television station used for PSYOPS with very distinctive tail antenna. The CL accepts a roll-on, roll-off crew suite and bolt-on antennas , and performs various classified mobility missions.

The 6994th ESS was a descendant of the 6994th Security Squadron detachments who crewed EC-47s during the Viet Nam conflict, and now exists as the 94th Intelligence Squadron. Photo courtesy of the Prop Wash Gang at Silent Warriors.